Integrating safety into transportation planning: A brief introduction

Road safety is increasingly considered as a necessary component in the transportation planning process. Safety measures should be incorporated into transportation planning since the way the planning process is performed, including design, construction, operation and maintenance, significantly affects traffic safety. In the past decade, considerable efforts have been made to explore various safety conscious planning approaches to form the next generation method, i.e. Transportation Safety Planning. This paper presents a review for the state of the art and practice of Transportation Safety Planning in the United States. A theoretical framework is proposed for further exploration of the new planning method. Using Florida planning data, two case studies are presented to illustrate the development of aggregate safety prediction model at different zone level and the possible modifiable areal unit problem in zonal safety prediction. Future research directions on major challenges associated with this new research topic are recommended.